Best DC age to get a puppy/dog?

[SunThroughTheGrey]

What's the general opinion on what's the best age for the DCs to be to get a dog? I am dog savvy, know what the responsibilities will be but it feels like if wait until DC is 5/6/7years old then that's a long time plus isn't that when weekends are taken up with activities? So you wait a bit longer, 13/14 but then they can travel further with you or you have more independence. I keep wondering if there is no good time and/or the only good time is retirement. Bleh. My DC is 16 months, I've been offered a puppy from a rescue who is almost 3 months, they've had no interest in the litter because of the time of year/ lots of younger puppies available.

I wouldn’t trust a rescue that is rehoming dogs to people with toddlers. Ideally 10+ but at least 6 or 7.

Currently having this conversation. Dc are 8 and nearly 7. We think we’re nearly but not quite ready. Dc1 is def old enough whereas I’m not quite sure Dc2 is mature enough to understand dog’s needs etc.

I got our family dog age 10 which in hindsight was perfect. I was just about old enough to take her for short walks etc by myself.

@BuyDirt

I wouldn’t trust a rescue that is rehoming dogs to people with toddlers. Ideally 10+ but at least 6 or 7.

Neither would I tbh. A rescue won’t know the background story with the dogs.

@Wolfiefan any suggestions on how to stop it happening? She's quite clearly not scared of him. We separate them whenever it happens. He pulled her ears so we gave his a little tug, he didn't like it and we told him that's how she feels. I'm not going to start hitting him though.

Of course not. But you need a barrier between them. It’s too late to separate them when it’s happened. When you are supervising you need to be close enough to intervene before the dog is hurt.

I think from an 8 week puppy, a 3 month rescue is it house trained? What socialisation has been done etc?

Should say 8 week pup yes.

@Wolfiefan but equally separating them isn't going to get them used to each other. Since that incident we are far more aware of both of their behaviours and recognise them and address it.

My DC were 5 and 3 when we got a 3 month old rescue. The puppy kept us up in the night at first so it was nice for us that the DC were beyond that stage. We had no problems at all training the puppy but we did need to train 3yo to be more gentle/ leave her in peace sometimes. 7 years later and DS and the dog are best buddies who play together and cuddle a lot.

It’s too late to address it once it has happened.
Dog separate from child OR you ready to mange behaviours before the dog is hit etc. It is unacceptable to have a dog abused. Pulling ears etc is abuse.

@Wolfiefan I really don't know what you're going on about. Our dog is far far from abused. I've said we're taken steps to manage this behaviour. I've offered my opinion to the OP. I'll be leaving this thread now.

It’s too late to address it once it has happened.
Dog separate from child OR you ready to mange behaviours before the dog is hit etc. It is unacceptable to have a dog abused. Pulling ears etc is abuse.

I agree. Clearly that poster doesn’t want to hear it. This is one reason why rescues don’t usually rehome dogs to people with young children. People that don’t parent their children around animals are disgusting.

You'll always get conflicting advice on MN. If you have had a dog before then you should be in a reasonable position to judge.

My kids were 11 and 13 and im so pleased i waited that long - means i could safely leave them home alone to walk the dog and when they did want to take the dog out themselves they were old enough to do that.

Mine were 8 and 10 and it was fine, dog is 5 now and love the kids, but there were still incidents, especially with the 8 yo, he was not happy when the dog was jumping up being excited when they were playing in the garden etc.

I would also like to give the advise that if your kids are a bit older, take some time to get the dog used to toddlers. We didn't do this as we don't really have friends/family with younger kids so my dog is quite weary of running toddlers/young kids and the noise they make. In hindsight we should have addressed that. Not a massive problem but when on the beach/camping etc it can be

[quote hidingfromthemouse]@Wolfiefan any suggestions on how to stop it happening? She's quite clearly not scared of him. We separate them whenever it happens. He pulled her ears so we gave his a little tug, he didn't like it and we told him that's how she feels. I'm not going to start hitting him though. [/quote]
They need to be kept apart at all times unless you are there and physically between them to block any rough actions.

Your son is of course too young to realise he is hurting her, but she is highly likely to retaliate.

OP any time is a good time IMO

[quote hidingfromthemouse]@Wolfiefan any suggestions on how to stop it happening? She's quite clearly not scared of him. We separate them whenever it happens. He pulled her ears so we gave his a little tug, he didn't like it and we told him that's how she feels. I'm not going to start hitting him though. [/quote]
Well you shouldn’t really be waiting until after he’s hit the dog to separate them. You already know he does it regularly, so don’t ever let him close enough to do it.

Outside of the fact that the dog will probably retaliate soon, it’s horrible for the poor dog to expect to be hit all the time because your child is allowed to hit her.

If I get a dog it’s mine, not my child’s. I’ll be feeding it, walking it, washing it, so it will naturally attach itself to me. In terms of timing, I don’t think there is any right or wrong time. If you’re a dog person then you naturally choose to do dog-friendly activities. My dog was stuck to me like glue and we often chose to go certain places because the dog could come too.

Age 8. When they can take responsibility eg pick up dog poo in the garden without being asked

It depends on your attitude and the sort of dog.
I’m pregnant with twins, due any day, and have a 3 year old Vizsla and her daughter who is 4 months. Many people said I was crazy, and I did feel slightly mad delivering puppies at 20 weeks pregnant then sleeping on the sofa next to the whelping box for the next four weeks.

However, I’ve got a housetrained puppy now because I started training the whole litter at 4 weeks. I chose a stud dog for my bitch that was very very laid back and trainable, my older girl is trainable but has a lot of working drive that needs managing, so I chose a dog that was from a steadier line. I picked the puppy from the litter that was most suited to being around tiny babies and young kids, and she’s the easiest puppy I’ve ever had. There’s been zero puppy biting, barely any jumping up, she has slept all night alone in her crate since her siblings left at nine weeks and now sleeps from 9pm to 8am and has to be woken up.

The difference between what I’ve done and your situation is the puppy I’ve got has been purposely bred, raised and socialised from being tiny to make sure she’s an easy, well rounded dog. I’d be wary of getting an older rescue puppy with a young child.

We decided against taking on the puppy. It was more to do with our current dog than our toddler.

To those questioning the rescue, I'm not in the U.K., I'm somewhere with lots lots lots of street dogs. There are less 'rules' about adoptions. Plus it's less rescue more one woman who rescues from the streets.

7 +

we are dog savvy/bred and showed.

not in a million would i have a puppy and 16m old